to draw the little drops from the air and drink them in before
the rising sun comes again to carry them away.

But our rain-drop undergoes other changes more strange than
these. Till now we have been imagining it to travel only where
the temperature is moderate enough for it to remain in a liquid
state as water. But suppose that when it is drawn up into the air
it meets with such a cold blast as to bring it to the freezing
point. If it falls into this blast when it is already a drop,
then it will freeze into a hailstone, and often on a hot summer's
day we may have a severe hailstorm, because the rain-drops have
crossed a bitterly cold wind as they were falling, and have been
frozen into round drops of ice.

But if the water-vapour reaches the freezing air while it is still
an invisible gas, and before it has been drawn into a drop, then
its history is very different. The ordinary force of cohesion has
then no power over the particles to make them into watery globes,
but its place is taken by the fairy process of "crystallization,"
and they are formed into beautiful white flakes, to fall in a
snow-shower. I want you to picture this process to yourselves, for
if once you can take an interest in the wonderful power of nature
to build up crystals, you will be astonished how often you will
meet with instances of it, and what pleasure it will add to your
life.

The particles of nearly all substances, when left free and not
hurried, can build themselves into crystal forms. If you melt
salt in water and then let all the water evaporate slowly, you
will get salt-crystals; -- beautiful cubes of transparent salt